updated 08:00 am EDT, Mon October 15, 2012

Acer tips new touchscreen PCs and monitors

Acer announced today a range of new products, including several all-in-one desktops and a new line of touch displays, all designed to take advantage of the touch capabilities of Windows 8. The Aspire 7600U and 5600U Series desktops feature 23- and 27-inch screens, allowing users to view content in Full HD. Both models have a slim profile of less than 1.4 inches to go along with their edge-to-edge displays. Select models feature 10-point capacitive touch technology incorporating gesture recognition.

Inside, the 7600U has an Intel Core i5 3210M processor with 3M cache, clocked at 3.1GHz. It also features 8GB of RAM, a discrete NVIDIA GT640M graphics card, and a combo Blu-ray/optical drive.

The 5600U also has an Intel Core i5 3210M processor with 3M cache, 3.1GHz processor, and up to 8GB RAM. It packs an optical drive, and a Blu-ray player can be added on.

Both models also come with an integrated multi-in-one card reader and 1TB of internal storage. They feature 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and the 7600U has four USB 2.0 ports, while the 5600U has three.

Acer's new T2 Series of touchscreen displays includes the 23-inch T232HL and the 27-inch T272HL. Both screens can be tilted up to 60 degrees back, and both come with VESA mounts for hanging on a wall.

The T232HL features an in-plane switching panel, allowing it to deliver solid viewing at angles up to 178 degrees horizontally and vertically. The T272HL has a vertical alignment panel.

Both monitors output at 1920x1080 and feature a 5ms response time and 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio. They feature two built-in speakers and three USB 3.0 ports with charging ability, as well as VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports.

The Acer Aspire 7600U will be available in late November with a starting price of $1899, while the Aspire 5600U will begin selling on October 26 starting at $1149 for the touch-enabled version and $999 for the non-touch variant. The T232HL will go on sale October 26 starting at $499, and the T272 will go on sale in November starting at $699.